Cooperative Art

When I was a student, I always hated group projects. As a type-A perfectionist, it always seemed like I was stuck doing a lot of the work to ensure that the finished product was up to my standards, picking up a lot of the slack of my classmates.

Other students could have hated group projects for an opposing reason.

Imagine being a student with low-self esteem or anxiety being expected to contribute to a group project, paralyzed by the idea that your work won’t be good enough, that you’ll disappoint your team or be the one to bring the group’s grade down.

Today we’re going to reframe the idea of a group collaboration into a positive experience. There will still be high expectations in that everyone needs to do their best. But that’s all that’s expected – everyone’s personal best.

Each student will color/decorate a part of an art piece that could look cool on it’s own, but will become part of a bigger piece when combined with their classmates’ work.

Type-A students will learn to release control over the final product and see that it can still be successful in the end, and students with low-self esteem will see their own work not only contribute to but also enhance a successful product.

This activity works best with 4+ students, and can be used with an entire class to create a large piece of art to be displayed!